1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to metallurgical polishing and, more particularly, to a system and method that permits in-situ visual inspection of a metallurgical sample during polishing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a sample is being cross-sectioned, it needs to be viewed many times during the process. Polishing must be stopped periodically and the sample placed on a microscope for examination to document the progress, look for anomalies, and photo document findings. If there are infrequent inspections, defects can be missed by polishing through them between examination steps. Alternately, if there are a large number of viewing steps, the polishing process becomes extremely slow.
Thus, the polishing process is labor intensive, requiring considerable time and continuous attention. Even automated polishing systems need to be stopped periodically to examine the sample on a microscope. For inspection, the sample needs to be removed from the polishing chuck, carried to a microscope for inspection, and then returned to the chuck for the next iteration of polishing.
One solution to the above-mentioned problem automates the removal of the sample from the polishing apparatus by having the sample attached to an arm, see Hunt et al., Automated Serial-Section Polishing Tomograph, Proceedings from the 34th International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis, November 2-6, Portland, Oreg., pp. 21-24. The arm lifts the sample over to a microscope for inspection. Besides being a rather cumbersome operation, the samples need to be rinsed and dried before examination.
It would be advantageous if a metallurgical sample could be inspected in-situ, without removing the sample from the polishing apparatus.